New order relating to potential safety issues of consumer products

The ability of Office of Product Safety & Standards (OPS&S) to lead the response to national product safety incidents and ensure consistency across the UK’s product safety system has recently been strengthened by a new Statutory Instrument, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (Enforcement) (Amendment) Order 2019 No. 1074. The Order came into effect on the 23rd July 2019 and amends paragraph 10 of Schedule 5 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

The Order enables the OPS&S, on behalf of the Secretary of State, to investigate potential safety issues related to all consumer products that are regulated by the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 (GPSR). Whilst this change will not restrict current enforcement capabilities it will enable the Secretary of State and OPS&S to use the investigatory powers provided by Schedule 5 to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 when enforcing the GPSR.

The order further enables enforcing authorities responsible for the Gas Appliances (Enforcement) and Miscellaneous Amendments Regulations 2018 (SI 2018 no. 389) and the Personal Protective Equipment (Enforcement) Regulations 2018 (SI 2018 no. 390), such as trading standards (UK) and the Secretary of State, to use the same powers as given in Schedule 5 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to investigate claims about gas appliances and personal protective equipment.

Further details including an explanatory note can be found here